PRESS GALLERY

Pilates Body Awareness was launched in 1987 by Chris Hocking, university graduate, ex-dancer and experienced Pilates teacher. The Pilates technique, dating back to the first part of the 19th century in the USA, was still in its formative years in the UK. Chris was one of the very first UK students of Pilates and went on to use her initiative and creativity to put together a syllabus that could bring the mat work form of Pilates to a wider audience without losing any of the precision, in depth analysis, corrective application or rigour of her early training with founder of UK Pilates, Alan Herdman. Her work, innovative and outstanding, soon attracted media attention. She was interviewed by just about every journalist covering health, especially women's health, in the 1990's. Even though in those days many failed to pronounce the word Pilates correctly, we were yet to hear the word on the radio, students flocked to her classes attracted by the quality of her teaching and by a message that resonated deeply with a sense of what physical and mental well-being could be. In later years the ‘Evening Standard’ still marked her out as in a ‘league of her own’ and that according to her students is where she still is, happy to deliver her work to such a high standard and to share her knowledge and enthusiasm with others whether beginner or advanced.